1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscope and more specifically relates to a microscope having a pipette.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2001-117009 discloses an inverted microscope having an objective lens disposed under a specimen stage, in which the specimen is observed from below through the bottom surface of a well plate placed on the stage. In this type of inverted microscope, epi-illumination, whereby the illuminating light is radiated from the objective lens onto the specimen, is adopted in fluorescence observation and transmitted illumination is adopted in bright field observation, phase contrast observation and the like.
When observing an biological specimen with a microscope, a reagent or the like may be individually injected onto the specimen placed inside wells during the observation. In such a situation, an automatic pipette is often utilized to inject the reagent into numerous wells accurately and efficiently.
However, when the specimen is illuminated through transmitted illumination, as in bright field observation or phase contrast observation, the well plate is illuminated from a position above the specimen, and as a result, the pipette used to inject the reagent onto the specimen and the transmitted illumination device will interfere with each other. Accordingly, the illumination device is moved off the optical axis when injecting the reagent into the individual wells, and once the injection is completed, the illumination device is reset above the specimen. Since the specimen cannot be illuminated during the injection, a problem arises in that any change occurring in the specimen while the reagent is being injected onto the specimen cannot be observed.